ROME — Christopher Knight went into the central Maine wilderness 27 years ago.

He built a hut on a slope in the woods, where he spent his days reading books and meditating.

There he lived, re-entering civilization only to steal supplies from camps under the cover of darkness. During those nearly three decades, he spoke just once to another person – until he was arrested during a burglary last week.

In between, Knight told police, he committed more than 1,000 burglaries, always taking only what he needed to survive. He became so familiar for his thievery and elusiveness that he spawned the local legend of the North Pond Hermit, who for years confounded both locals and police investigating the break-ins.

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

"If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of miserliness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared." Iti 26

Bhikkhus, if you develop and make much this one thing, it invariably leads to weariness, cessation, appeasement, realization and extinction. What is it? It is recollecting the Enlightened One. If this single thing is recollected and made much, it invariably leads to weariness, cessation, appeasement, realization and extinction.Anguttara-Nikaya: Ekanipata: Ekadhammapali: PañhamavaggaBuddhanussatiSCVSMVMMBS

What an interesting fellow... I hope the police don't prosecute him too hard.Gosh, imagine 27 years of solitude in the woods, then being thrown in the county jail to await trial... A crowded, noisy, nasty concrete jail.What a nightmarish contrast for him.

Then, saturated with joy, you will put an end to suffering and stress.SN 9.11

Knight has drawn international interest since his arrest, with an offer of marriage, an offer of bail and a ballad written in his honor. Attorneys in and outside Maine have expressed an interest in representing him, and one person wanted to provide him housing, officials said.

Yes, it is interesting that he was meditating and stealing.But I try not to judge people until I've had a chance to find out a bit more about them, what motivates them, and walking a mile in their shoes (if possible). I'm sure there are many hermits in our midst who are likely to suffer from acute asperger's syndrome or various other mental health issues. One young man who just pulled out of a course I am attending is a prime candidate of this sort of behaviour.

Despite the book deal and marriage proposal - I wonder whether this is just a tragedy in the making. After 27 years of seclusion and silence re-entering society via jail/prison and international media attention is probably a recipe for disaster.Anyway, much metta to him.kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

James the Giant wrote:I was astounded to read he did not have a camp fire at any time, not once. Because he was concerned the smoke would be seen.In Maine, in the middle of winter!

James, you don't need a fire to stay warm or cook. But yeah, he puts many wilderness campers to shame, that is for sure.

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Ben wrote:Despite the book deal and marriage proposal - I wonder whether this is just a tragedy in the making. After 27 years of seclusion and silence re-entering society via jail/prison and international media attention is probably a recipe for disaster.Anyway, much metta to him.kind regards,

Ben

You said it. Unless of course his meditation has led to an ability to deal with such stresses. It's a shame he was a stealing to survive. It's cases like this where you sort of wish you could have introduced the guy to a monastery, where he could have had all he wanted (solitude) without the thievery.

mettaJack

"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

Ben wrote:After 27 years of seclusion and silence re-entering society via jail/prison and international media attention is probably a recipe for disaster.Anyway, much metta to him.

You are assuming that this is a re-entry to society. My deluded hope is that he learns his lesson, moves to California, and does the same thing minus the theft.

Yes, Buckwheat, I am assuming a re-entry to society. I think he is too curious an oddity for the media to leave him alone. In time, that attention will disappear but I do think the sudden re-entry, perhaps jail, perhaps some temporary celebrity status, may have a deliterious effect. And you are right, they are just assumptions I am making and I could be wrong.kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Then the Blessed One, picking up a tiny bit of dust with the tip of his fingernail, said to the monk, "There isn't even this much form...feeling...perception...fabrications...consciousness that is constant, lasting, eternal, not subject to change, that will stay just as it is as long as eternity." (SN 22.97)